Medical personnel are routinely required to inject and/or withdraw from medical containers, such as vials, bottles, and flexible bags, medically required liquids using a syringe engaged with a hypodermic needle or other septum puncturing means. Some of such medical containers have ready to use concentrates which must be withdrawn for injection into a larger volume of liquid in a separate medical container. Other such medical containers have ready to use liquids containing medication or flushing liquids to be administered directly to patients. Still other such medical containers have dry powders which must receive by injection a measured amount of liquid for reconstitution of a medical liquid to be used as a concentrate or ready to use liquid.
This activity of injection and withdrawal related to the above medical containers is deceptively simple. The time and emotional pressure typical of the medical treatment environment results in many improperly directed needle placements by medical personnel. A substantial focus of the prior art is made toward improving safety during the activity of hypodermic needle injection or withdrawal of fluids and liquids from a patient's veins, arteries, or other subcutaneous location. However, the present inventor has observed that doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals must, with one hand, hold such a medical container upside down and insert a hypodermic needle connected to a syringe through a rubber or elastomer septum of the medical container with the other hand, sometimes resulting in a needle puncture wound (sometimes quite deep) to the hand holding the medical container. Alternately, a needle puncture may occur to a medical tube conduit for intravenous fluids or to a flexible bag receiving injectable liquids from the syringe. The medical personnel administering or withdrawing liquids via syringe need only make a minor misalignment caused by lack of focus or an unsteady hand to cause such injury or damage.
It is well known that removal or covering of the hypodermic needle from the syringe upon completion of injection or withdrawal of medical liquids is most quickly and inexpensively achieved by re-inserting the hypodermic needle into a sheath from which it has been withdrawn originally, yet another maneuver which exposes medical personnel to needle sticks. This danger is so significant that OSHA has mandated that hypodermic needles should not be recapped in order to reduce the needle stick risk to the medical personnel.
The risks of accidental puncture wounds or misdirected punctures by hypodermic needles are well known in the art:                The bodily fluids or tissues of the medical personnel wounded contaminate the needle exterior and internal bore toward the tip. The rushed, non-cognizant, or negligent medical personnel take further actions which result in their bodily fluids or tissues being injected into a patient or becoming a contaminant to bodily fluids withdrawn from a patient.        Medically significant quantities of medical liquids, some of which can be toxic, allergenic, or substantially radioactive, are injected into medical personnel, many times without actual knowledge of such personnel if the needle gauge is small and the puncture was swift.        Pathogens and bodily fluids located on the outside surface of protective gloves of medical personnel during a surgical or wound examination procedure may adhere to a hypodermic needle pressed through the glove and into the hand of the medical personnel holding the medical container.        It is common that one person will hold a medical container while another impresses a hypodermic needle into the septum, further increasing the risk of hypodermic needle puncture by way of a syringe holder not sensing proper alignment of the medical container.        
Inherent dangers of injection and withdrawal of liquids from medical containers have resulted in development of “needleless” blunt-tipped plastic cannulas to replace sharp hypodermic needles. These cannulas have the advantage of being essentially far less capable puncturing human skin during typical medical procedures. However, blunt plastic cannulas are also inherently quite difficult to press into and through rubber septa, making loss or misalignment of the medical container a substantial risk. Dropping of a medical container during a needleless cannula piercing of a septum is a substantial risk and often renders the medical container contaminated beyond recovery, requiring instant disposal.
There is an immediate need for a device which is directed to essentially eliminating many of the risks of hypodermic needle puncture and/or misdirection of a hypodermic needle when pressed toward and through a rubber or elastomer septum of a medical container.